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A Crack in an Antarctic Ice Shelf Grew 17 Miles in the Last Two Months

A rapidly advancing crack in Antarctica’s fourth-largest ice shelf has scientists concerned that it is getting close to a full break. The rift has accelerated this year in an area already vulnerable to warming temperatures. Since December, the crack has grown by the length of about five football fields each day.Related Article

100 MILES

ANTARCTICA

SOUTH

PACIFIC

OCEAN

Larsen A

Larsen B

SOUTH

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

Shelf Front

Jan. 19

Jan. 1

June 2016

August 2014

November 2010

Rift

extent

Larsen C

Ice Shelf

Larsen D

If Larsen C’s shelf front retreats past this line, called the compressive arch, the shelf is likely to collapse.

100 MILES

Larsen A

ANTARCTICA

Larsen B

Shelf Front

Current

January 1, 2017

SOUTH

PACIFIC

OCEAN

June 2016

August 2014

November 2010

Larsen C

Ice Shelf

SOUTH

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

Rift

extent

Larsen D

If Larsen C’s shelf front retreats past this line, called the compressive arch, the shelf is likely to collapse.

ANTARCTIC

PENINSULA

ANTARCTIC PENINSULA

100 MILES

SOUTH

PACIFIC

OCEAN

ANTARCTICA

Larsen C

Ice Shelf

Current

January 1, 2017

June 2016

Rift

extent

August 2014

November 2010

SOUTH

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

If Larsen C’s shelf front retreats past this line, called the compressive arch, the shelf is likely to collapse.

ANTARCTIC PENINSULA

100 MILES

SOUTH

PACIFIC

OCEAN

ANTARCTICA

Larsen C

Ice Shelf

Current

January 1, 2017

June 2016

Rift

extent

August 2014

November 2010

SOUTH

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

If Larsen C’s shelf front retreats past this line, called the compressive arch, the shelf is likely to collapse.

NASA Blue Marble imagery

The crack in Larsen C now reaches over 100 miles in length, and some parts of it are as wide as two miles. The tip of the rift is currently only about 20 miles from reaching the other end of the ice shelf.

Once the crack reaches all the way across the ice shelf, the break will create one of the largest icebergs ever recorded, according to Project Midas, a research team that has been monitoring the rift since 2014. Because of the amount of stress the crack is placing on the remaining 20 miles of the shelf, the team expects the break soon.

50 MILES

Thin sea ice

Ice shelf

820 FEET DEEP

900 FEET

Rift seen from space

Sentinel-1 SAR imagery | Captured Jan. 27

Photo by John Sonntag | Captured Nov. 10

50 MILES

Thin sea ice

Ice shelf

820 FEET DEEP

900 FEET

Rift seen from space

Sentinel-1 SAR imagery | Captured Jan. 27

Photo by John Sonntag | Captured Nov. 10

Rift seen from space

50 MILES

Ice shelf

820 FEET DEEP

Thin sea ice

Sentinel-1 SAR imagery | Captured Jan. 27

900 FEET

Photo by John Sonntag | Captured Nov. 10

Rift seen from space

50 MILES

Ice shelf

820 FEET DEEP

Thin sea ice

Sentinel-1 SAR imagery | Captured Jan. 27

900 FEET

Photo by John Sonntag | Captured Nov. 10

“The iceberg is likely to break free within the next few months,” said Adrian J. Luckman of Swansea University in Wales, who is a lead researcher for Project Midas. “The rift tip has moved from one region of likely softer ice to another, which explains its step-wise progress.”

The time-lapse image below shows the rift gradually widening from late 2014 to January of this year.

Current rift

extent

Area of detail

Sentinel-1 SAR imagery

Ice shelves, which form through runoff from glaciers, float in water and provide structural support to the glaciers that rest on land. When an ice shelf collapses, the glaciers behind it can accelerate toward the ocean. Higher temperatures in the region are also helping to further the ice shelf’s retreat.

If the ice shelf breaks at the crack, Larsen C will be at its smallest size ever recorded.

That would also leave the ice front much closer to the ice shelf’s compressive arch, a line that scientists say is critical for structural support. If the front retreats past that line, scientists say, the northernmost part of the shelf could collapse within months. It could also significantly change the landscape of the Antarctic peninsula.

“At that point in time, the glaciers will react,” said Eric J. Rignot, a glaciologist, professor at University of California Irvine and a senior scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “If the ice shelf breaks apart, it will remove a buttressing force on the glaciers that flow into it. The glaciers will feel less resistance to flow, effectively removing a cork in front of them.”

The crack reaches all the way to the bottom of the ice shelf.

The crack in Larsen C is a third of a mile deep, down to the floor of the ice shelf.

Shelf front

Area of detail

Current rift

extent

0 miles

wide

0.1

0.2

0.3

1.8

2.0

The maximum width

of the rift is about

2 miles

Top of the ice shelf

190 feet above sea

level

Floating ice

The depth of the

rift is about

1,750 feet

Water below the

ice shelf

Shelf front

Area of detail

Current rift

extent

0 miles

wide

0.1

0.2

1.8

2.0

0.3

The maximum width

of the rift is about

2 miles

Top of the ice shelf

190 feet

above sea level

Floating ice

The depth of

the rift is about

1,750 feet

Water below the

ice shelf

Shelf front

Area of detail

Current rift

extent

0 miles

wide

0.3

0.1

0.2

1.8

2.0

The maximum

width of the rift

is about 2

miles

Top of the ice shelf

190 feet

above sea level

Floating ice

The depth of

the rift is about

1,750 feet

Water below the

ice shelf

Scientists fear that two crucial anchor points will be lost as the shelf retreats.

According to Dr. Rignot, the stability of the whole ice shelf is threatened.

“You have these two anchors on the side of Larsen C that play a critical role in holding the ice shelf where it is,” he said. “If the shelf is getting thinner, it will be more breakable and it will lose contact with the ice rises.”

Low shelf support

High

Bawden Ice Rise

If the shelf front disconnects from the ice rises, a rapid retreat will be triggered.

Gipps Ice Rise

Current rift

extent

Larsen C Ice Shelf

High

Low shelf support

Bawden Ice Rise

If the shelf front disconnects from the ice rises, a rapid retreat will be triggered.

Gipps Ice Rise

Current rift

extent

Larsen C Ice Shelf

Low shelf support

High

Bawden Ice Rise

If the shelf front disconnects from the ice rises, a rapid retreat will be triggered.

Current rift

extent

Gipps Ice Rise

Larsen C Ice Shelf

Ice rises are islands that are overriden by the ice shelf, allowing them to shoulder more support of the shelf. Scientists have yet to determine the extent of thinning around the Bawden and Gipps ice rises, though Dr. Rignot noted that the Bawden ice rise was a much more vulnerable anchor.

“We’re not even sure how it’s hanging on there,” he said. “But if you take away Bawden, the whole shelf will feel it.”

The collapse of the Larsen C ice shelf may not sharply affect global sea level rise, but the collapse of other vulnerable ice shelves will.

The Larsen A and B ice shelves disintegrated in 1995 and 2002, though both were drastically smaller than Larsen C. Neither contributed significantly to global sea level rise, however, because they were already floating above water, and the glaciers behind them did not contain a substantial volume of ice.

According to Dr. Rignot, the collapse of Larsen C would add only a tiny amount of water to the global sea level. Of greater concern to scientists is how the collapse of ice shelves can affect the glaciers that flow behind them, because the melting of those glaciers can cause much higher levels of ocean rise. Scientists see the impending Larsen C collapse as a warning that much larger amounts of ice in West Antarctica could be vulnerable.

Sources: Shelf support data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center Compressive arch line by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Ice shelf depth and rift data by Project Midas